ARE YOU GETTING LUCKY WITH THE MEDIA?

Some people seem to have all of the luck – they are in the right place at just the right time. But could it be that luck doesn’t just happen, that maybe you have something to do with the luck that comes your way, especially when it comes to pitching the news media?

You may wonder how you can make your own luck but the fact is that people get lucky once they position themselves to catch a break. If you are not trying then nothing will just come to you. But if you make enough calls and send enough emails you can get lucky. Showing up is your strategy.

So how does one get lucky?

You make the extra phone call that you felt too tired to make. You make the effort to schedule one more lunch with someone you think can help you, even if you feel beaten down by rejection. You spend a few more dollars out of a stretched budget to buy ads or something you hope can give your book a boost. You network a little longer and hard than you feet or heart seem to want to.

It’s always darkest just before dawn. Just when you think failure is going to swallow you like the ocean does a grain of sand, it is then that fate and luck appear. Hang in there. Keep believing in yourself and what you do, and someone will eventually recognize your efforts.

Word of mouth takes time to build up. As luck would have it, you may get a big breakthrough when the right person reads your book and then champions it to others. This is why you need to hand out as many copies to friends, family, and influencers, in hopes enough people will read it, love it, and start telling others. To build critical mass means you need to share it with hundreds and even thousands of people. It only takes one lucky break and someone with a lot of followers and connections can praise your book to their huge list. And then those people can shout it to their followers, and so on, and so on.

What is luck anyway? It seems like it happens randomly, without merit, at the least likely moment. But in reality, luck is a buildup of outreach, effort, and connections. The more people you touch and the more passionate you are when talking to others, the more likely a lot of people will be inspired to help you.

You think it’s luck when you find $20 on the street but you couldn’t have gotten it if you hadn’t been out there and if you hadn’t mindfully looked down to grab it.

You think it’s luck when you beat out more qualified people for a job, but there was some kind of quality that you shared to win that job.

You think it’s luck when a ball bounces one way or the other to win a game but it’s really about odds -- when you play enough games and put the ball in play, eventually you catch a break. You probably lost a few to a bad break too. It evens out, provided you participate fully and often.

Your luck will come as you push your book relentlessly. Just when you feel like throwing in the towel is exactly when you need to try a little harder, for a little longer. You create your luck with everything that you do.

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014